Political Quotes

“I was not planning on speaking today, but I was so inspired by what Senator Alexander had to say about his career and about the Senate that I wanted to share a word or two of reflection on what he said. Anybody who has spent any time around Washington, DC, or even around this Capitol knows there are statues built all over this town of people nobody remembers. When I go by one of those statues in Washington-- whether it is in a circle somewhere in a traffic stop or in the hallway in the Capitol--I think about the importance of dying at the right time. You want to die at a moment when statues are in vogue if you are going to have a statue. But there is no--none of these people are ever going to be remembered in the long view of history. The stoic philosophers on whom we base so much, or at least attempt to base so much of what we do here, had a solution to that. Their solution was--whether it was the Greek or Roman philosophers--their solution was: Do your best. Show up and make a contribution. Do your best. Don't worry about how people are going to remember you. Don't worry about your own mortality. So few of us follow that advice. I think Lamar Alexander embodies that. As President of the University of Tennessee, as Governor, as the Secretary of Education, as a Senator, in every one of those jobs, it has always been about doing his best. In a Chamber filled with people who think they have a monopoly on wisdom, Lamar has never stopped learning.…”